Really? Really
by chelsea'97
Summary: Lame title. Anywho, so what if after the war Effie paid a little visit to District 12 and caught up with Haymitch? T for drinking because Haymitch is involved.


It was a usual night in District 12, Haymitch was sat down at his dining room table, cracking open a fresh bottle of liquor to help him through the night. Katniss and Peeta had left about an hour ago, he was happy for them, finally together. Even expecting their first child. But even after 30 years, here he was, unable to chase away the nightmares of his games, the faces of the dead tributes of 12, his old friends -Chaff, Seeder, Cecilia- and everyone else who died during the war. He took a long pull on his bottle and choked as there was an impatient knocking on the door.

"Haymitch!" the knocked sung, "Are you awake?"

He groaned through his drunkened state, he was in no mood for Effie Trinket to be prancing around through his house. He hadn't seen her for a while, she moved back to the capitol to be with her family.

"Open the door! The geese are trying to kill me!"

Haymitch chuckled at this, with all that had changed since the war Effie's flamboyant personality was exactly the same. Slowly, he got up from his chair and opened the door. Effie came scrambling in and Haymitch quickly closed the door behind him silently cussing the geese. He turned around expecting to see Effie adjusting one of her unnaturally colored wigs but instead found her redoing a simple bun. Her outrageous outfits were gone and instead she was wearing a simple skirt and blouse. And without all the heavy makeup she actually looked...attractive.

"Haymitch? Are you all right?". Haymitch was snapped from his reverie by Effie's voice, the clippy capitol accent had faded noticeable therefore her voice no longer made him cringe. Quickly he wiped a bit of drool he hadn't noticed with his sleeve.

"Yeah, I'm..I'm fine."

Effie walked into the kitchen and took note of all the empty liquor bottles. "Oh, don't tell me you're still drinking that same old white liquor. At least up the standards, champaign or something." She screwed up her face at the strong odour that Haymitch had become so accustomed to over the years he didn't even notice anymore.

Haymitch followed her into his living room, despite Effie's perfect manners she didn't wait for Haymitch's offer before seating herself on his rarely used sofa. He sat down in the one adjacent and flicked on a standing lamp, watching the light illuminate Effie's features.

"What brings you back to district 12?" Haymitch asked, getting comfortable. Memories of how Effie always wanted to be promoted to a better district as an escort, with better people and winning tributes flooded his mind. It obviously wasn't because she missed the scenery.

"Well...well." Effie's cheeks flushed pink, giving out a nervous giggle before sighing. "I wanted to see you again."

Haymitch sat in shock, did Effie Trinket just say she wanted to see him? He told himself to relax, she didn't say she wanted to be with him, but could they? He glanced at her downcast eyes, what could possibly be going on in that insane mind of hers?

"Well, I've been wanting to see you again too." Not a total lie, he'd defiantly wondered what she was up to, old rebel Effie Trinket. And now that he had seen her, he really wanted to see her. All night long, maybe naked... 'Snap out of it!' he scolded. "You look good" he added.

"You don't look too bad yourself, nowhere near as bad as those morphling addicts. Oh, sorry. I've been working on not being as mean anymore. Kind of recreate myself, y'know?"

Haymitch's heart ached for her. Just like everyone else the war had changed Effie. Some of the light had gone from her crystal blue eyes, she didn't carry herself quite as confidently as before. Suddenly the dimly lit living room seemed too confined. "Would you like to go for a walk?" he asked.

"Sure."

Outside Haymitch breathed the cool evening air trying to clear his mind while his geese chased Effie through the yard. "For heaven's sake man, control your animals!" She shrieked as one chewed on her skirt, tearing the delicate fabric.

A smirk spread itself onto Haymitch's worn face, "I bet I can get more into the pen than you."

Effie looked up grinning. "What's the bet?" But screaming again as another goose attempted to undress her. "Nevermind! We'll decide after!"

So they chased the geese around the entire Victors Village in an attempt to get them all caged in. Haymitch was usually too drunk to care about what they did so they had no boundaries. They enjoyed a lot of their time in town, honking and picking until the shop keepers gave them spare bread and grain and being petted by young children.

It took about an hour to get them all caged, they collapsed next to each other panting and laughing. Especially wound up from when Peeta came outside to see what all the noise was at 11 o'clock in the night. He took one look and Effie and retreated back inside with a quick "Nice to see you!"

"That's the most fun I've had in as long as I can remember!" Haymitch gasped out. "Who even won?"

"Who! Cares!" Effie got out before erupting into giggles again, clutching her stomach. "I feel like a kid again!"

They went back inside to get a drink, forced to use tap water since Haymitch almost never drank anything non-alcoholic. He also scraped up enough ingredients to get a pot of soup boiling. It may never taste any good, but it smelled alright.

"How have things been in the Capitol?" Haymitch asked, adding a bit of pepper to his cooking experiment.

"Oh, its been alright I guess." Effie started, kicking off her heels- at least three inches shorter than what she used to wear- and setting herself down on a bar stool. Then she sighed, "Who am I kidding? Its been horrible." She rested her head in her hands. "No one likes the fact that we won the war and now the Capitol and Districts are of equal. They want to create a new sort of game, something even more horrible than the Hunger Games were. If they were to do that...take control again..I don't know what I would do!" She burst into tears, "Not escort the kids, never again! I was brainwashed back then Haymitch, just a silly naive Capitol girl! I...I..."

"Shhhhhh..." Haymitch cooned, walking up to Effie and awkwardly wrapping his arm around her. He wasn't any good at this emotional crap. He drowned his feelings in drink, ignored the fact they existed. Now to be comforting a crying women, maybe the war had changed him too. "You know Paylor would never let that happen. They're just gonna have to accept that things are changed now, stubborn Capitol- ugh!" He stopped himself from muttering every foul name he knew.

When Effie's sobs continued he gave up on the comforting words and scooped her up in his arms to carry her to the living room where he sat on the couch and cradled her in his arms until she was all cried out.

"Oh, oh I'm so sorry Haymitch" Effie choked out, "I don't know what came over me. That was completely unlady-like."

"No big deal" Haymitch sighed, "I can't count the amount of times I've wanted to do that."

"Really?" Effie asked, glancing up at Haymitch. Her blue eyes still glistening with tears.

"Really." Haymitch said before leaning down and pressing his lips to Effies.


End file.
